Contax Name reverts back to Zeiss this year

[evan_dong1]

I spoke with Nick Chermsak of Tocad America today regarding a repair on my Contax N1 kit. In the

discussion, the subject of Contax was brought up. He mentioned that the CONTAX name will revert back

to Zeiss later this year. Jst the name, none of the recent productline and patented equipment will go to

Zeiss. They will remain property of Kyocera's development.

 

Just hoping that Zeiss will revive the Contax name again for AF medium format.

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

I doubt that Zeiss will design and build an entire AF medium format system. There isn't much of a market. And they didn't even give us chipped AF lenses in Nikon mount. How hard could that have been? And now you're hoping for a complete system?

 

I think the best that we can hope for is that Zeiss licenses the Contax name to someone else. Sony, perhaps?

[q.g._de_bakker]

You mean that Kyocera's license to use the name expires? The Contax brand name has never left Zeiss' ownership.

[ulrich_ploedereder]

Isn't the Contax 75th anniversary this year?

[dougmiles]

Might expect the Contax name to appear on the Zeiss Ikon rangefinder camera. Would be a good "retro" tie-in with the past.

[kparratt]

Speaking names ... is it not interesting that the word "Hasselblad" does not appear on the three so-called "Classic" Zeiss ZV lenses. They are the Distagon 50mm, 120mm Macro Planar, and 180mm Sonnar.

 

You find them at http://www.zeiss.com/photo

 

And can purchase them directly from Zeiss, not Hasselblad.

 

All is not lost.

 

Cheers, Kevin.<div></div>

[evan_dong1]

Yes Q.G.de Bakker,

 

The Contax name never left Zeiss, but under the licensing agreement, Kyocera has it till their contract expires. Of course I would love to see the resurrection of the Contax 645 lie with a newer camera body and lenses, but that is definitely Wishful Thinking on my behalf.....

[wolf_rainer_schmalfuss]

Hi Kevin,

 

Why should the name Hasselblad appear on the new ZEISS classic ZV lenses. It never happened before. Without the excellent Zeiss glasses, the Hasselblad metal box, would be just a box catching the light on film.

 

Cheers

[q.g._de_bakker]

Yes, indeed.<br>There's nothing special about Zeiss selling Zeiss lenses to fit cameras that always have used Zeiss lenses.<br><br>But, Wolf Rainer, don't forget the metal box's concept. A concept Rollei - to name but one - was very happy to copy, even though their TLRs (metal boxes with excellent Zeiss lenses on them, one a bit better than the other) were very succesfull.<br>And the build quality of that metal box too was something without parallel.<br>;-)

[bob_h]

It would be interesting to see if Zeiss will release some of their MF lenses in mounts for the Pentax, Mamiya and Contax 645.

[dougmiles]

That would be interesting, Bob, but I wince at the pain of the resulting GAS attack and thinning of the wallet.

[lytton martin]

The only time Hasselblad ever put their name on a lens was for the American marketing of the Fuji TX-1 aka Hasselblad Xpan and the Fuji Auto Focus 645 Medium Format System also known as the Hasselblad H1/H2/H3. To me a Hassy ain't worth it's salt without the Zeiss T* lenses. Contax got that priveledge for their 645. Oh well! Not to say that Fujinon lenses and their proprietary Sper EBC coating are bad. I just feel like they're trying to hide something; like they're ashamed of themselves. No T*, no deal.

 

Cheers,

 

-Lytton

[lytton martin]

Also, to Hasselblad's credit, the Swedish built V and F series were the epitome of mechanical perfection. Kinda like a what makes a Rolex a Rolex and not a Timex. They both tell time, as any camera body "catches light on film", but one does it in a time honored tradition that has been refined to perfection and the other is as romantic as using calculator to tell time. Something about the "ka-chunk" and winding sounds the Hassy made makes me feel nostalgic for a bygone era. Oh well... time marches on.

 

Cheers,

 

-Lytton

[conurus]

AF Medium format Contax: there is no need because there is the Sinar with autofocus Zeiss lenses, which is physically compatible with the Hasselblad V mount.

 

What I am reading here is that Zeiss will only get back the Contax name. I am sure they will do interesting things with it, but based on what I am reading here it seems impossible to revive the 645 mount itself, because they don't get the intellectual property and the production equipment. Same goes for the N mount.

[q.g._de_bakker]

Zeiss could get a license to use/produce the mounts from Kyocera. That would seem to be the least of problems.<br>Machining these mounts too is not difficult. So again, probably not something that will prevent Zeiss from reviving the 645 line.<br>There will be other things (like there not being a market big enough) that will be in the way of doing so.

[colin_elliott]

Even if there is little market for a new Contax 645 body, Zeiss could produce some new lenses such as a Tilt/Shift, long zoom or Shuttered (Prontor I think is now owned by Zeiss?).

 

They now produce manual focus Nikon "F" mount lenses, presumably because they see a market. I would be so bold as to say that most of us C645 users don't employ Autofocus routinely, therefore such new lenses could be manual focus, which would still display the focus confirmation light in the body.

 

I for one would be happy not to pay for AF motors in my lenses.

 

Come on Zeiss....bring it on!

[q.g._de_bakker]

<i>"(Prontor I think is now owned by Zeiss?)"</i><br><br>Zeiss have had a controlling share (later full ownership) in Prontor (or rather Gauthier, the company producing the Prontor shutters) for some 70 - 80 years now.<br>Just a historical note. ;-)<br><br>Zeiss could do a number of things using the Contax name. They do not need to use the name to produce some more lenses for the Contax 645 system though. Just like they do not need any of the the 'names' to produce lenses for Nikon, Sinar, Hasselblad, Arri or Rollei.

[jan_decher]

If only Zeiss released the good old 5.6/250 Sonnar again for various mounts I would be

interested in the Contax 645 version. No idea why Kyocera settled for the 4/210mm lens,

perhaps that's the exact equivalent of a 250 in a 6x4.5 camera, or to gain that half f-stop.

Anyone using the 4/210? Is it worth the $$? Jan

[dougmiles]

Jan, from f/5.6, f/4 would be a full stop gain, double the light. And 210mm might have been considered more attractive for the 6x4.5 format, having a similar angle of view to the popular 135mm in 35 format.

 

I'd like to see future appropriate use of the respected Contax name...

[evan_dong1]

Jan,

Have you tried to use the Hasselblad 250mmF5.6 CF lens on your Contax 645 with the MAM-1 adapter? As long as you have the split image screen, your focusing will be dead on. If you have the standard matte scrren, the MAM-1 will have the correct film distance to allow you get the correct In-Focus confirmation.

 

Using the MAM-1 adapter will you to use the full range of Hasselblad Zeiss lenses.